


Spark

by LaTessitrice



Series: Echo Prompts [3]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Echo - Freeform, F/M, When there's so little fic for a pairing you have to write it yourself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 14:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaTessitrice/pseuds/LaTessitrice
Summary: Tumblr prompt:Max finding out that he's going to be a dad





	Spark

Max is used to coming home to find Liz’s nose buried in a scientific paper. She’ll be curled up on the couch, notebook balanced on one knee, pen in one hand and glass of wine in the other, focused so intently that she doesn’t always react to him coming through the door.

Tonight’s no exception, except the wine is missing. They must have run out and he makes a mental note to buy some more as he pauses on the threshold to admire the view. She’s wearing one of his sweatshirts, leggings, and chunky socks, and the entire scene invites him in for snuggling, but he knows she’ll get irritated if he tries that before she’s finished reading her article. It doesn’t bother him; it’s part of who she is, that insatiable mind, trying to fix the world.

He’s converted the second bedroom into a shared office so she’s got somewhere to do this, but she always insists she prefers reading here, fireplace lit, waiting for him to return to her. He thinks she also wants the office to be  _his_ space, somewhere for him to write, but he’ll always share everything with Liz. Happily. This isn’t his house anymore, it’s their home, and nothing eases the decades-long ache in his soul like that thought.

She finally notices him watching her, glancing up from her paper with a soft “Hey.”

He crosses the room, crouching beside her so they can share a kiss. “You want me to head back out for wine? I can pick-up some takeout.”

Liz shakes her head, takes his hand in hers. “I have something to show you.”

It’s said lightly, but the words themselves are ominous. He grips her hand tighter, even as she strokes her thumb across his skin soothingly. “What?”

She closes her eyes, frowns in concentration. Max glances around in confusion, wondering what she could possibly show him like this, but then—the lights flicker. Dim, just for a second, like he’s had a moment of quiet rage. And again.

Except— “I didn’t do that.”

Liz opens her eyes again, nodding, while she thrusts her notebook towards him. “Right. It happened the first time a few days ago when I was here alone, so I knew it couldn’t be you. So I’ve been doing some reading.” 

She gestures at her notes, which he holds, reading but not understanding. The inside of his brain is a whirlwind of fear and confusion. Liz had just manipulated electrical energy. Like he can. “ _How?_ ”

“This is what I’ve been researching. I’d heard about fetomaternal microchimerism though I’ve never seen it in action, but of all the possibilities, this made the most sense to me. So I took a few cell samples from different places—blood, hair, cheek swab, the usual, and it confirmed what was happening.”

Her words are mostly white noise. He latches on to the two that makes the least sense to him. “Fetomaternal micro—Liz, what’s happening to you?” Whatever it is, they can fix it. Between her and Michael, they can solve it, even if it means Max can never touch her again, to stop it coming back. 

A tiny voice in the back of his head whispers that he understands what  _fetomaternal_  relates to, but it’s drowned in the panic.

“It’s pretty common actually, and if it wasn’t for the side effects I don’t think I’d have known for a while, since I don’t have any other symptoms.” She’s rambling now, trying to soothe him. “But some of my cells have definitely changed, and your natural immunity to illness is probably damping down things like morning sickness—”

“What?” The static in his head has cleared, the salient pieces of the jigsaw she’s been dropping slotting together.

“I’m not complaining, I feel great! If we can skip over all that and just get straight to glowing it will be amazing.”

“Liz, are you saying you’re affecting the lights because you’re—” The final word sticks in his throat.

“Pregnant. Yes. Peed on a stick this morning to confirm it. That’s what all this is about.” She points at the notes again. “It’s perfectly normal.”

Max is pretty certain that nothing in his life could ever be described that way. His dawning horror has switched targets—Liz isn’t ill, she’s just… “We were—we were careful!”

“No form of birth control is completely effective,” she says with a shrug. She’s so casual about this, but Max, Max is spiraling. “I’ve arranged for Kyle to do an ultrasound—it’s lucky he did that rotation in obs and gynae before he picked surgery.” She finally stops, peering at Max with concern. “You look…worried.”

“Of course I’m worried! We have no idea what this might do to you.”

“Actually, I’ve got a fairly good idea, thanks to that biomedical degree I have, and all my friends with kids. Pregnancy is a horror show; there’s no reason for this one to be any different.”

For the first time, he notices the hint of panic in her eyes to match his. Everything she’s done, burying herself in science, is Liz’s way of coping with the unexpected. With the unknown.

He sets the notebook aside, empties her hands so she can grasp both of his, resting his forehead against hers. Offering the comfort she needs the only he can, as he can’t find the words right now.

“But I’m not too worried,” she continues. “We’ve dealt with bigger things before, we’ll get through this. You, me, our ragtag band of genius friends…and our baby. We’ll be a family.”

It’s that word, and her hopeful smile, which lights an answering spark in his chest. For all the times he’s longed for a family, he always looked to the stars. Never thought he’d actually find one. Never thought he could create one, here on Earth. But that might be what he’s managed with Liz. 

His family is right here on this couch. All three of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Fetomaternal microchimerism is a real thing! It just has slightly more dramatic effects on Liz...


End file.
